Version 23.4.8839

• Overview
• Connector Configuration
  • Settings Tab
    • Host Configuration
    • Client Authentication
    • Server Authentication
    • Upload
    • Download
  • Automation Tab
    • Automation Settings
    • Performance
  • Alerts Tab
    • Connector Email Settings
    • Service Level Agreement (SLA) Settings
  • Advanced Tab
    • Proxy Settings
    • Advanced Settings
    • Message
    • Logging
    • Miscellaneous
• Establishing a Connection
• Uploading Files
  • Downloading Files
• Macros
  • Examples

The Secure Copy Protocol connector (SCP) transfers files to and from an SSH server via SCP.

Overview

Each SCP connector uploads to a specified folder and downloads from a set of folders on the remote SSH server.

Files that reach the SCP connector in the CData Arc flow are uploaded to the upload target folder, and files found in the download target folder(s) are downloaded and entered into the Arc flow. The connector supports upload and download filters to send and receive only specified file names and/or file extensions.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Host Configuration

Settings related to establishing the connection to the remote SSH host.

• Connector Id The static, unique identifier for the connector.
• Connector Type Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
• Connector Description An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
• Remote Host The hostname or IP address of the SSH server.
• Remote Port The port on which to connect to the SSH server.

Client Authentication

Settings related to authenticating to the SSH server. Options vary based on the selected authentication mode.

• Authentication Mode The type of authentication to use with the SSH server.
• User The username credential for logging in to the SSH server.
• Password The password credential for logging in to the SSH server.
• Client Certificate The certificate with a private key to use during public key authentication.
• Certificate Password The password required to access the Client Certificate.

Server Authentication

Settings related to verifying the SSH server’s identity.

• Server Thumbprint The thumbprint of the certificate that identifies the SSH server. You can also set this to a certificate file containing the server’s public key. When you test the connection, the connector prompts to accept/trust the thumbprint presented by the server.

Upload

Settings related to uploading files to the SSH server.

• Remote Path Files processed by the connector are uploaded to this remote folder.

Download

Settings related to downloading from the SSH server.

• Remote Path The remote folder from which files are downloaded. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple paths.
• File Mask A glob pattern that determines which files in the Remote Path should be downloaded (e.g. *.txt).
• Delete files (after download) Check this to delete successfully downloaded files from the SSH server.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

• Upload Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically uploaded.
• Retry Interval The amount of time before a failed upload is retried.
• Max Attempts The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file. Success is measured based on a successful server acknowledgement. If this is set to 0, the connect retries the file indefinitely.
• Download Whether the connector should automatically poll the remote download path(s) for files to download.
• Download Interval The interval between automatic download attempts.
• Minutes Past the Hour The minutes offset for an hourly schedule. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Hourly. For example, if this value is set to 5, the automation service downloads at 1:05, 2:05, 3:05, etc.
• Time The time of day that the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
• Day The day on which the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Weekly or Monthly.
• Minutes The number of minutes to wait before attempting the download. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Minute.
• Cron Expression A five-position string representing a cron expression that determines when the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Advanced.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

• Max Workers The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.
• Max Files The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.

Alerts Tab

Settings related to configuring alerts and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Connector Email Settings

Before you can execute SLAs, you need to set up email alerts for notifications. Clicking Configure Alerts opens a new browser window to the Settings page where you can set up system-wide alerts. See Alerts for more information.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) Settings

SLAs enable you to configure the volume you expect connectors in your flow to send or receive, and to set the time frame in which you expect that volume to be met. CData Arc sends emails to warn the user when an SLA is not met, and marks the SLA as At Risk, which means that if the SLA is not met soon, it will be marked as Violated. This gives the user an opportunity to step in and determine the reasons the SLA is not being met, and to take appropriate actions. If the SLA is still not met at the end of the at-risk time period, the SLA is marked as violated, and the user is notified again.

To define an SLA, click Add Expected Volume Criteria.

• If your connector has separate send and receive actions, use the radio buttons to specify which direction the SLA pertains to.
• Set Expect at least to the minimum number of transactions (the volume) you expect to be processed, then use the Every fields to specify the time frame.
• By default, the SLA is in effect every day. To change that, uncheck Everyday then check the boxes for the days of the week you want.
• Use And set status to ‘At Risk’ to indicate when the SLA should be marked as at risk.
• By default, notifications are not sent until an SLA is in violation. To change that, check Send an ‘At Risk’ notification.

The following example shows an SLA configured for a connector that expects to receive 1000 files every day Monday-Friday. An at-risk notification is sent 1 hour before the end of the time period if the 1000 files have not been received.

Advanced Tab

Proxy Settings

These are a collection of settings that identify and authenticate to the proxy through which the SCP connection should be routed. By default, this section uses the global settings on the Settings Page. Clear the checkbox to supply settings specific to your connector.

• Proxy Type The protocol used by a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Host The name or IP address of a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Port The TCP port for a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy User The user name to use to authenticate with a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Password A password used to authenticate to a proxy-based firewall.
• Authentication Scheme Leave the default None or choose from one of the following authentication schemes: Basic, Digest, Proprietary, or NTLM.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

• Delete Command The command to use when deleting files after download.
• Processing Delay The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Input folder is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting.
• Recurse Whether to download files in subfolders of the target remote path.
• SSH Encryption Algorithms A comma-delimited list of algorithms to use during SSH encryption. By default, all algorithms are enabled. The following algorithms are supported:
  
  aes256-ctr, aes256-cbc, aes192-ctr, aes192-cbc, aes128-ctr, aes128-cbc, 3des-ctr, 3des-cbc, cast128-cbc, blowfish-cbc, arcfour, arcfour128, arcfour256, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
• Local File Scheme A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.
• Timeout The duration the connector will wait for a connection response before throwing a timeout error.
• Upload File Permissions The file permissions to set on files uploaded by the connector.

Message

• Save to Sent Folder Check this to copy files processed by the connector to the Sent folder for the connector.
• Sent Folder Scheme Instructs the connector to group messages in the Sent folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all messages for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all messages directly in the Sent folder. For connectors that process many messages, using subfolders helps keep messsages organized and improves performance.

Logging

• Log Level The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
• Log Subfolder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
• Log Messages Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Input or Output tabs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

• Other Settings Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Establishing a Connection

The following settings are required to connect to a remote SSH server:

• Remote Host
• Remote Port
• Authentication Mode
• User
• Password or Client Certificate/Certificate Password
• Server Thumbprint

When you test the connection to the server, the connector prompts to accept/trust the thumbprint of the server’s public key.

Uploading Files

The SCP connector uploads files from the Input tab. Files are automatically uploaded to the SSH server if Upload Automation is enabled in the connector.

Set the Remote Path to the folder on the remote SSH server where files should be uploaded. The application changes directories to the specified folder after logging in to the server.

If a file is not uploaded, the connector attempts to upload it again after the Retry Interval has elapsed. This process continues until the Max Attempts setting has been reached, after which the connector raises an error and the file is no longer sent automatically.

Downloading Files

Downloaded files are displayed in the Output tab of the connector, or passed along to the next connector in the flow. Files are automatically downloaded from the SSH server if Download Automation is enabled in the connector, and can be manually downloaded by clicking the Receive button in the Output tab.

Set the Remote Path to the folder on the remote SSH server from which files should be downloaded. The application changes directories to the specified folder after logging in to the server. File Mask filters files so that only filenames matching the glob pattern are downloaded.

You can use the Delete files (after download) setting to delete files on the remote server after they are successfully downloaded. On the Output tab, click Receive to test the settings and retrieve the matching files from the server.

Macros

Using macros in file naming strategies can enhance organizational efficiency and contextual understanding of data. By incorporating macros into filenames, you can dynamically include relevant information such as identifiers, timestamps, and header information, providing valuable context to each file. This helps ensure that filenames reflect details important to your organization.

CData Arc supports these macros, which all use the following syntax: %Macro%.

Macro	Description
ConnectorID	Evaluates to the ConnectorID of the connector.
Ext	Evaluates to the file extension of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Filename	Evaluates to the filename (extension included) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
FilenameNoExt	Evaluates to the filename (without the extension) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
MessageId	Evaluates to the MessageId of the message being output by the connector.
RegexFilename:pattern	Applies a RegEx pattern to the filename of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Header:headername	Evaluates to the value of a targeted header (headername) on the current message being processed by the connector.
LongDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in long-handed format (for example, Wednesday, January 24, 2024).
ShortDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in a yyyy-MM-dd format (for example, 2024-01-24).
DateFormat:format	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in the specified format (format). See Sample Date Formats for the available datetime formats
Vault:vaultitem	Evaluates to the value of the specified vault item.

Examples

Some macros, such as %Ext% and %ShortDate%, do not require an argument, but others do. All macros that take an argument use the following syntax: %Macro:argument%

Here are some examples of the macros that take an argument:

• %Header:headername%: Where headername is the name of a header on a message.
• %Header:mycustomheader% resolves to the value of the mycustomheader header set on the input message.
• %Header:ponum% resolves to the value of the ponum header set on the input message.
• %RegexFilename:pattern%: Where pattern is a regex pattern. For example, %RegexFilename:^([\w][A-Za-z]+)% matches and resolves to the first word in the filename and is case insensitive (test_file.xml resolves to test).
• %Vault:vaultitem%: Where vaultitem is the name of an item in the vault. For example, %Vault:companyname% resolves to the value of the companyname item stored in the vault.
• %DateFormat:format%: Where format is an accepted date format (see Sample Date Formats for details). For example, %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff% resolves to the date and timestamp on the file.

You can also create more sophisticated macros, as shown in the following examples:

• Combining multiple macros in one filename: %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%%EXT%
• Including text outside of the macro: MyFile_%DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%
• Including text within the macro: %DateFormat:'DateProcessed-'yyyy-MM-dd_'TimeProcessed-'HH-mm-ss%